The Irish standard., 1887-01-01
A THANKSGIVING AT KNOCK.
The Irish Lourdes Visited by Mr..
D. A. 0'sullivan, Of the City
Of Toronto, Canada.
HOW TO REACH THIS PLACE.
Knock is Commonplace. Without Any
Natural or Artificial
Beauty.
From .Donahoe's Magazine.

The circumstances which led the
writer to feel it a duty on himself tc
visit Knock may be of little interest tc
the reader of this Magazine. The latter
can imagine for himself an invalid go
ing up and down through various cities
of this continent in quest Of relief or OF
cure; submitting to new remedies, and
experiencing new failures; consulting
the chief medical men and submitting
to their operations-som humane and
some brutal; and, finally, after being
prayed for in the churches, and reported
dead in the newspapers, coming to the
conclusion that human skill had done
its best and it's worst, and that his was
the common lot of mortals, and at the
most only question Of weeks. Hav-
Ing made the most Of human skill,
cast about me to see it Heaven would
come to my assistance. I don't think
there was any djsrespect in this course,
and I believe that the extraordinary is
not to be reSOrted to while the Ordl-
nary and natural remains untried. I
made a feeble atteInpt-a resolution
TO visit Knock, which was then first
known (now about six years ago.; but
a kind friend dissuaded me from the
step, knowing, no doubt, that was
unable to travel half ways to the sea-
side. He said it / had faith relief
would come to me as we'll through the
plaster of Knock as by a visit to the
church. He gave me little plaster or
cement. I applied it IN the way he
suggested, and in few weeks L was
we'll; the relief was, may say, imme-
diate; / have not been day i'll since.
/ ascribe my recovery as so many 9th
ers have theirs, not to human skill. nor
to the recuperatlye powers Of nature,
but TO a merciful staying of the course
of nature, neither assisted nor impeded
by human skill.
The commentator that was SO gra-
ciously accorded TO the sick man in the
gospel who went and returned thanks,
does not fall to my lot, l am afraid. l
comfort myself, however, by thinkin.,
that mine was the longer journey. The
venerable clergyman whom [ met at
Knock told me of the Bishop OF Tas-
mania who came some fifteen thousand
miles to return thanks for his recovery
and he mentioned other persons who
travelled very long distances. l felt
somewhat ashamed of my own foul
thousand miles, and especially having
waited SO many years before coming at
all.
The traveller who wants to do Xii
larney in the morning and get to KNOCK
by night. must be up betines. Knocr
is an inconvenient place to reach, anc
when you get to the nearest railway
station, you have still five or six mile:
to go by car. I arrived at Ballyhauni:
at one O'Clock in the morning. and if ths
hotel wasn't the worst one in Ireland
it was certainly the worst J. had en-
countered there. So, as to get to Mas:
if possible, I ordered a Car for si>
o'clock, but not a soul was stirring a;
that hour. BY dint of language no
easily misunderstood, we got under wa!
in half All hour. and climbed up tn.
narrow, crooked street towards Knocl
"a mass of rugs and umbrellas agains
the impending rain. "Whenever yol
make all kinds of preparations for rain,
said the driver, ''then you have YOU
fine day." And SO indeed we had
The first three miles were all up hill
but the driver said that would be al
the easier driving when we were com
ing back. [ fancy he didn't set mt
down for very austere pilgrim after
what passed about being ready on time
he kept to secular subjects-the crops
the landlords, the rent, and the home
rule question; and it was not until be
pointed out the little spire of the
church, that any information could be
got about what is the most interesting
in that part of Ireland. Indeed, the
county of Mayo is poor and bleak, and
the farms very different from those
saw the day before at Mallow or Cashel
There is no rent on. the land there;
there is barely subsistence.
An apparition at a place like Knock
reminds one of those heavenly visions
that lit up the desert. places of old. IT
is commonplace *::E:6;!t: !: !: ':uatprsl
or artificial. beautYI'a bare 'hillside
without. tees. pn shfubhelS; npttatg
t:he mGderr fsih;9f "a ppnye9t,::ls
unfinished, cheerless look. standing
out against the sky. Besides the
church and the schoolhouse there are
only a few houses. Knock is the small
est of hamlets. On the outside the
church has the appearance of being